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Flint-Achini "Flint" Montamore
Born into “royalty,” Flint-Achini has had an ironically humble childhood. His fathers, Gusto and Al-Fredo Montamore - the dual kings of the rat-man kingdom - are but cripples struggling to help their impoverished and discriminated people survive. They are the rulers of a sewer kingdom - a kingdom that lies beneath the oppressive and holy city of Goldtier. Gusto and Al-Fredo Montamore were born as nobility among two separate families of the rat-men (and were also lovers), but with a famine unparalleled in rat history, they faced a revolt and the potential downfall of their people. So, they left on a quest to find something only told of in rat tales: an endless horde of cheese ruled over by a greedy rat sorcerer. They found said sorcerer, as well as a large supply of cheese that could save their people, but at a cost. As it turns out, the sorcerer was an evil spirit named Bazooldo in disguise, and had cursed the cheese with a terrible, ironic plague. It caused holes to appear in the infected person, akin to a living piece of cheese, as the holes slowly sucked their life away. The plague only infected one person at a time, and was spread by touch, killing its host in a matter of days, and spreading from the body to the next closest person. Gusto and Al-Fredo made a sacrifice, and forged a soul bond between themselves, splitting the effects of the plague so that neither of them suffered from its full force. This split made them frail and crippled, but prevented their deaths, as the plague was now trapped between the two of them. With this soul bond, if one died, so did the other. And with their sacrifice, as well as the food they brought to the kingdom, their people pledged loyalty to the rat lovers. Their exposure to the curse and the soul bond magic caused Al-Fredo to become with child in a bizarre turn of events, and what was born was even more bizarre. Flint-Achini was born to the two young rat rulers, but he was not born as a fellow rat-man. A being formed from magic and ancient curses, he was born as a changeling - a thing of no true face or form. And that’s not all. Flint’s magical origins continued into his life, causing unexplainable and bizarre things to happen all around him. He was born a wild mage. Most would have killed such a child or have it thrown out, but Gusto and Al-Fredo did not. They accepted him as their own. After all, the rats were an oppressed people, and the Montamore’s did everything they could to help those in distress. Staying true to his lineage, Flint takes on the appearance of a rat man, and is proud to do so even when he receives glares and insults among those who would discriminate him above ground. Inspired by his fathers’ goals and sense of morality, he too seeks to help those that are impoverished and discriminated against. More so than anything, he feels for those with parents that do not love them, for he too could have faced such a fate. Despite all the help he tries to give, he often makes things worse due to the torrential chaos that follows him as his birthright. Simply put, those on the surface that know him tend to stay away for fear that he will bring trouble with him. At some point in his childhood, Flint encountered Ukog among the back-alleys of Goldtier, and immediately befriended him despite his rodent mannerisms. Ukog was a kindred soul - something frowned upon and judged by many, and he would find solace among the rat people. Flint-Achini is content with his life, or at least that’s what he convinces himself of. Helping the poor and judged, he thinks that he is doing his duty and continuing his fathers’ legacies. He is, but he also desires more. He desires to know of the world above, to know why and what he is, and to find the spirit that cursed his fathers and consequently brought him into the world. He wants to get answers from the spirit, and he wants revenge for the cripples that his fathers have become due to the dark curse rendered upon their undeserving souls.